A Novel Disturbance Observer Based Fixed-Time Sliding Mode Control for Robotic Manipulators With Global Fast Convergence

This paper proposes a new global fixed-time sliding mode control strategy for the trajectory tracking control of uncertain robotic manipulators.First,a fixed-time disturbance observer(FTDO) is designed to deal with the adverse effects of model uncertainties and external disturbances in the manipulator systems.Then an adaptive scheme is used and the adaptive FTDO(AFTDO) is developed,so that the priori knowledge of the lumped disturbance is not required.Further,a new non-singular fast terminal sliding mode(NFTSM) surface is designed by using an arctan function,which helps to overcome the singularity problem and enhance the robustness of the system.Based on the estimation of the lumped disturbance by the AFTDO,a fixed-time non-singular fast terminal sliding mode controller(FTNFTSMC)is developed to guarantee the trajectory tracking errors converge to zero within a fixed time.The settling time is independent of the initial state of the system.In addition,the stability of the AFTDO and FTNFTSMC is strictly proved by using Lyapunov method.Finally,the fixed-time NFESM(FTNFTSM) algorithm is validated on a 2-link manipulator and comparisons with other existing sliding mode controllers(SMCs) are performed.The comparative results confirm that the FTNFTSMC has superior control performance.

Obstacle Avoidance and Multitarget Tracking of a Super Redundant Modular Manipulator Based on Bezier Curve and Particle Swarm Optimization

A super redundant serpentine manipulator has slender structure and multiple degrees of freedom.It can travel through narrow spaces and move in complex spaces.This manipulator is composed of many modules that can form different lengths of robot arms for different application sites.The increase in degrees of freedom causes the inverse kinematics of redundant manipulator to be typical and immensely increases the calculation load in the joint space.This paper presents an integrated optimization method to solve the path planning for obstacle avoidance and discrete trajectory tracking of a super redundant manipulator.In this integrated optimization,path planning is established on a Bezier curve,and particle swarm optimization is adopted to adjust the control points of the Bezier curve with the kinematic constraints of manipulator.A feasible obstacle avoidance path is obtained along with a discrete trajectory tracking by using a follow-the-leader strategy.The relative distance between each two discrete path points is limited to reduce the fitting error of the connecting rigid links to the smooth curve.Simulation results show that this integrated optimization method can rapidly search for the appropriate trajectory to guide the manipulator in obtaining the target while achieving obstacle avoidance and meeting joint constraints.The proposed algorithm is suitable for 3D space obstacle avoidance and multitarget path tracking.

Research on Trajectory Tracking Method of Redundant Manipulator Based on PSO Algorithm Optimization

Aiming at the problem that the trajectory tracking performance of redundant manipulator corresponding to the target position is difficult to optimize,the trajectory tracking method of redundant manipulator based on PSO algorithm optimization is studied.The kinematic diagram of redundant manipulator is created,to derive the equation of motion trajectory of redundant manipulator end.Pseudo inverse Jacobi matrix is used to solve the problem of manipulator redundancy.Based on the tracking ellipse of redundant manipulator,the tracking shape of redundant manipulator is determined with the overall tracking index as the second index,and the optimization method of tracking index is proposed.The redundant manipulator contour is located by active contour model,on this basis,combined with particle swarm optimization algorithm,the point coordinates on the circumference with the relevant joint point as the center and joint length as the radius are selected as the algorithm particles for iteration,and the optimal tracking results of the overall redundant manipulator trajectory are obtained.The experimental results show that under the proposed method,the tracking error of the redundant manipulator is low,and the error jump range is small.It shows that this method has high tracking accuracy and reliability.

Barrier Lyapunov functions-based dynamic surface control with tracking error constraints for ammunition manipulator electro-hydraulic system

This paper focuses on the dynamic tracking control of ammunition manipulator system. A standard state space model for the ammunition manipulator electro-hydraulic system(AMEHS) with inherent nonlinearities and uncertainties considered was established. To simultaneously suppress the violation of tracking error constraints and the complexity of differential explosion, a barrier Lyapunov functionsbased dynamic surface control(BLF-DSC) method was proposed for the position tracking control of the ammunition manipulator. Theoretical analysis prove the stability of the closed-loop overall system and the tracking error converges to a prescribed neighborhood asymptotically. The effectiveness and dynamic tracking performance of the proposed control strategy is validated via simulation and experimental results.

A FUZZY UNCERTAINTY COMPENSATOR FOR MANIPULATOR TRAJECTORY TRACKING

A novel fuzzy logic compensating (FLC) scheme is proposed to enhance theconventional computed-torque control (CTC) structure of manipulators The control scheme is based onthe combination of a classical CTC and FLC, and the resulting control scheme has a simple structurewith improved robustness. Further improvement of the performance of the FLC scheme is achievedthrough automatic tuning of a weight parameter a leading to a self-tuning fuzzy logic compensator,so the system uncertainty can be compensated very well. By taking into account the full nonlinearnature of the robotic dynamics, the overall closed-loop system is shown to be asymptotically stable.Experimental results demonstrate the effectiveness of the computed torque and fuzzy compensationscheme to control a manipulator during a trajectory tracking task.

Pressure observer based adaptive robust trajectory tracking control of a parallel manipulator driven by pneumatic muscles

This paper presents a pressure observer based adaptive robust controller (POARC) for posture trajectory tracking of a parallel manipulator driven by three pneumatic muscles without pressure sensors. Due to model errors of the static forces and friction forces of pneumatic muscles, simplified average flow rate characteristics of valves, unknown disturbances of entire system, and unmeasured pressures, there exist rather severe parametric uncertainties, nonlinear uncertainties and dynamic uncertainties in modeling of the parallel manipulator. A nonlinear pressure observer is constructed to estimate unknown pressures on the basis of a single-input-single-output (SISO) decoupling model that is simplified from the actual multiple-input-multiple-output (MIMO) coupling model of the parallel manipulator. Then, an adaptive robust controller integrated with the pressure observer is developed to accomplish high precision posture trajectory tracking of the parallel manipulator. The experimental results indicate that the system with the proposed POARC not only achieves good control accuracy and smooth movement but also maintains robustness to disturbances.

Robust visual tracking for manipulators withunknown intrinsic and extrinsic parameters

This paper addresses the robust visual tracking of multi-feature points for a 3D manipulator with unknown intrinsic and extrinsic parameters of the vision system. This class of control systems are highly nonlinear control systems characterized as time-varying and strong coupling in states and unknown parameters. It is first pointed out that not only is the Jacobian image matrix nonsingular, but also its minimum singular value has a positive limit. This provides the foundation of kinematics and dynamics control of manipulators with visual feedback. Second, the Euler angle expressed rotation transformation is employed to estimate a subspace of the parameter space of the vision system. Based on the two results above, and arbitrarily chosen parameters in this subspace, the tracking controllers are proposed so that the image errors can be made as small as desired so long as the control gain is allowed to be large. The controller does not use visual velocity to achieve high and robust performance with low sampling rate of the vision system. The obtained results are proved by Lyapunov direct method. Experiments are included to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed controller.

Trajectory tracking control based on linear active disturbance rejection controller for 6-DOF robot manipulator

The trajectory tracking control for a 6-DOF robot manipulator with multiple inputs and outputs,non-linearity and strong coupling is studied.Firstly,a dynamical model for the 6-DOF robot manipulator is designed.From the view point of practical engineering,considering the model uncertainties and external disturbances,the robot manipulator is divided into 6 independent joint subsystems,and a linear active disturbance rejection controller(LADRC)is developed to track trajectory for each subsystem respectively.LADRC has few parameters that are easy to be adjusted in engineering.Linear expansion state observer(LESO)as the uncertainty observer is able to estimate the general uncertainties effectively.Eventually,the validity and robustness of the proposed method adopted in 6-DOF robot manipulator are demonstrated via numerical simulations and 6-DOF robot manipulator experiments,which is of practical value in engineering application.

Method of SLAS’s ground track manipulation based on tangential impulse thrust

Satellites with altitudes below 400 km are called super low altitude satellites(SLAS),often used to achieve responsive imaging tasks.Therefore,it is important for the manipulation of its ground track.Aiming at the problem of ground track manipulation of SLAS,a control method based on tangential impulse thrust is proposed.First,the equation of the longitude difference between SLAS and the target point on the target latitude is derived based on Gauss’s variational equations.On this basis,the influence of the tangential impulse thrust on the ground track’s longitude is derived.Finally,the method for ground track manipulation of SLAS under the tangential impulse thrust is proposed.The simulation results verify the effective-ness of the method,after manipulation,the satellite can visit the target point and revisit it for multiple days.

Three-degree-of-freedom Parallel Manipulator to Track the Sun for Concentrated Solar Power Systems

In concentrated solar power（CSP） generating stations, incident solar energy is reflected from a large number of mirrors or heliostats to a faraway receiver. In typical CSP installations, the mirror needs to be moved about two axes independently using two actuators in series with the mirror effectively mounted at a single point. A three degree-of-freedom parallel manipulator, namely the 3-RPS parallel manipulator, is proposed to track the sun. The proposed 3-RPS parallel manipulator supports the load of the mirror, structure and wind loading at three points resulting in less deflection, and thus a much larger mirror can be moved with the required tracking accuracy and without increasing the weight of the support structure. The kinematics equations to determine motion of the actuated prismatic joints in the 3-RPS parallel manipulator such that the sun＇s rays are reflected on to a stationary receiver are developed. Using finite element analysis, it is shown that for same sized mirror, wind loading and maximum deflection requirement, the weight of the support structure is between 15% and 60% less with the 3-RPS parallel manipulator when compared to azimuth-elevation or the target-aligned configurations.

Non-Negative Adaptive Mechanism-Based Sliding Mode Control for Parallel Manipulators with Uncertainties

In this paper,a non-negative adaptive mechanism based on an adaptive nonsingular fast terminal sliding mode control strategy is proposed to have finite time and high-speed trajectory tracking for parallel manipulators with the existence of unknown bounded complex uncertainties and external disturbances.The proposed approach is a hybrid scheme of the online non-negative adaptive mechanism,tracking differentiator,and nonsingular fast terminal sliding mode control(NFTSMC).Based on the online non-negative adaptive mechanism,the proposed control can remove the assumption that the uncertainties and disturbances must be bounded for the NFTSMC controllers.The proposed controller has several advantages such as simple structure,easy implementation,rapid response,chattering-free,high precision,robustness,singularity avoidance,and finite-time convergence.Since all control parameters are online updated via tracking differentiator and non-negative adaptive law,the tracking control performance at high-speed motions can be better in real-time requirement and disturbance rejection ability.Finally,simulation results validate the effectiveness of the proposed method.

Position Control of a Flexible Manipulator Using a New Nonlinear Self-Tuning PID Controller

In this paper, a new nonlinear self-tuning PID controller(NSPIDC) is proposed to control the joint position and link deflection of a flexible-link manipulator(FLM) while it is subjected to carry different payloads. Since, payload is a critical parameter of the FLM whose variation greatly influences the controller performance. The proposed controller guarantees stability under change in payload by attenuating the non-modeled higher order dynamics using a new nonlinear autoregressive moving average with exogenous-input(NARMAX) model of the FLM. The parameters of the FLM are identified on-line using recursive least square(RLS) algorithm and using minimum variance control(MVC) laws the control parameters are updated in real-time. This proposed NSPID controller has been implemented in real-time on an experimental set-up. The joint tracking and link deflection performances of the proposed adaptive controller are compared with that of a popular direct adaptive controller(DAC). From the obtained results, it is confirmed that the proposed controller exhibits improved performance over the DAC both in terms of accurate position tracking and quick damping of link deflections when subjected to variable payloads.

Robust Adaptive Control for Mobile Manipulators

This paper addresses the trajectory tracking control of a nonholonomic wheeled mobile manipulator with parameter uncertainties and disturbances. The proposed algorithm adopts a robust adaptive control strategy where parametric uncertainties are compensated by adaptive update techniques and the disturbances are suppressed. A kinematic controller is first designed to make the robot follow a desired end-effector and platform trajectories in task space coordinates simultaneously. Then, an adaptive control scheme is proposed, which ensures that the trajectories are accurately tracked even in the presence of external disturbances and uncertainties. The system stability and the convergence of tracking errors to zero are rigorously proven using Lyapunov theory. Simulations results are given to illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed robust adaptive control law in comparison with a sliding mode controller.

Compound Impedance Control of a Hydraulic Driven Parallel 3UPS/S Manipulator

The hydraulic parallel manipulator combines the high-power density of the hydraulic system and high rigidity of the parallel mechanism with excellent load-carrying capacity.However,the high-precision trajectory tracking control of the hydraulic parallel manipulator is challenged by the coupling dynamics of the parallel mechanism and the high nonlinearities of the hydraulic system.In this study,the trajectory control of a 3-DOF symmetric spherical parallel 3UPS/S manipulator is evaluated.Focusing on the highly coupling and nonlinear system dynamics,a compound impedance control method for a hydraulic driven parallel manipulator is proposed,which combines impedance control with the spatial motion characteristics of a parallel manipulator.The control strategy is divided into the inner and outer loops.The inner loop controls the impedance of the actuator in the joint space,and the outer loop controls the impedance of the entire platform in the task space to compensate the coupling of the actuators and improve the tracking accuracy of the moving platform.Compound impedance control does not require force or pressure sensors and is less dependent on modeling precision.The experimental results show that the compound impedance control effectively improves the tracking accuracy of the moving platform.This research proposes a compound impedance control strategy for a 3-DOF hydraulic parallel manipulator,which has high tracking precision with a simple and cheap system configuration.

Design of Fuzzy Controller for Robot Manipulators Using Bacterial Foraging Optimization Algorithm

Trial and error method can be used to find a suitable design of a fuzzy controller. However, there are many options including fuzzy rules, Membership Functions (MFs) and scaling factors to achieve a desired performance. An optimiza-tion algorithm facilitates this process and finds an optimal design to provide a desired performance. This paper presents a novel application of the Bacterial Foraging Optimization algorithm (BFO) to design a fuzzy controller for tracking control of a robot manipulator driven by permanent magnet DC motors. We use efficiently the BFO algorithm to form the rule base and MFs. The BFO algorithm is compared with a Particle Swarm Optimization algorithm (PSO). Performance of the controller in the joint space and in the Cartesian space is evaluated. Simulation results show superiority of the BFO algorithm to the PSO algorithm.

Active Disturbance Rejection Control for a Multiple-Flexible-Link Manipulator

The control problem of multiple-flexible-link manipulators( MFLMs) is studied in this paper.The dynamic model of MFLM is derived and separated into two-time scale by utilizing the singular perturbation technique. The active disturbance rejection control( ADRC) is adopted to the slow subsystem to track a desired trajectory. The proposed ADRC structure preshapes the desired trajectory by utilizing the tracking differentiator,estimates the disturbance and internal states with an extended state observer,and guarantees a robust performance by combining a feedback controller with a feedforward term. Two types of feedback controllers are designed,proportional derivative( PD) controller and nonlinear PD( NPD) controller. For the fast subsystem,a fast stabilizing control is designed according to the standard linear quadratic regulator approach. Simulations are performed to evaluate the proposed control scheme.Results show that,compared with the traditional PD controller,the ADRC structure based control scheme has smaller overshot and shorter settling time,suppresses vibration quickly,and is robust to the maneuver speed. In general,the control scheme utilizing ADRC structure and NPD feedback controller shows better performance.

Model-free adaptive control of space manipulator under different gravity environment

Due to the release of gravity in the space environment, the dynamic characteristics of the space manipulator have changed compared with that of the ground, which results in the change of its tracking precision. This paper presents a model-free adaptive control(MFAC) strategy to track the desired trajectory under different gravity environment. A dynamic transformation method and full form dynamic linearization(FFDL) approach are selected to dynamicly linearize the system, which can better eliminate the complex dynamics that may exist in the original system. The controlled object uses the two degrees of freedom of space manipulator and the controller only depends on the desired angle and torque of each joint of the space manipulator. Moreover, the proof of stability is also provided. Finally, simulation results are presented to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed strategy. It is shown that the proposed approach can achieve better trajectory tracking performance under different gravity environment without changing the control parameters, and the tracking precision can be significantly improved as compared with the proportional differential(PD) control results.

Hybrid position/force control strategy and experiment of the six-cable driven parallel manipulator for the forty-meter aperture radio telescope

This paper mainly analyzes a hybrid position/force control strategy and experiment of a six-cable driven parallel manipulator for a forty-meter aperture radio telescope. Through the establishments of a kinematic model, a catenary model and a cable-force characteristics model, a basic method is presented based on preventing the pseudo-drag problem of a flexible cable and realizing the hybrid position/force control for a six-cable driven parallel manipulator, and a hybrid position/force control system is developed. Some specific experiments in two typical velocities for astronomical observations are carried out. Experimental results show that the tracking accuracy is related to the speed of the movement. The desired tracking accuracy of the support system is achieved through an effective hybrid position/force control strategy, the cable forces are controlled effectively, and the pseudo-drag problem of flexible cable is solved. This study establishes the foundation of achieving the harmonious movement of the six-cable driven parallel manipulator, A-B rotating platform and the Stewart fine tuninz olatform.

Robust BELBIC-Extension for Trajectory Tracking Control

In real-life trajectory tracking applications of robotic manipulators uncertain robot dynamics, external disturbances and switching constraints which cannot be accommodated for by a conventional controller affect the system performance. We suggested an additional control element combining sliding mode and bio-mimetic, neurologically-inspired BELBIC （brain emotional learning-based intelligent control）. The former is invariant to internal and external uncertainties and guarantees robust behavior. The latter is based on an interplay of inputs relating to environmental information through error-signals of position and sliding surfaces and of emotional signals regulating the learning rate and adapting the future behaviour based on prior experiences and with the goal to maximize a reward function. We proofed the stability and the performance of the suggested control scheme through Lyapunov theory and numerical simulations, respectively.